Please allow me to introduce my very first game ”Range Racer” for Android. I'm afraid my friends aren't dead honest with me and just say what I want to hear, so feedback is highly appreciated!

Range Racer is an arcade racing game with its own character. As the player you have to maneuver a car through a busy road by simple lane changes. The special thing about it is that you are not driving any normal car, but an electric vehicle. And, as commonly known, the weakest part of an electric vehicle is its battery. This is also the thing that makes life difficult inside this game. While you fight your way around other traffic participants the car battery level is falling quickly. To proceed you have to load up the battery continuously by collecting energy items from the street. Your goal is to cover as many miles as possible.

To keep the player excited, Range Racer offers various elements. There are sections within the game where you are forced to deal with special situations, such as short distance races. You can unlock additional environments by covering a certain number of total miles. You can upgrade your car to achieve better results. You can compete with your friends on facebook and the rest of the world thanks to a global leaderboard and a fully integrated facebook leaderboard.

It's exactly like Mads said, before you can start playing you have to complete the tutorial. That's why th play button is grayed out when you start the game the first time. The button for the tutorial is the round one with a questionmark inside. To make it noticable I let it pulsate. Obviously it's not fulfilling it's purpose, I got allready complains from other folks. It's a mayor "bug" which has to be solved asap.

It's exactly like Mads said, before you can start playing you have to complete the tutorial. That's why th play button is grayed out when you start the game the first time. The button for the tutorial is the round one with a questionmark inside. To make it noticable I let it pulsate. Obviously it's not fulfilling it's purpose, I got allready complains from other folks. It's a mayor "bug" which has to be solved asap.

Obviously, just let the tutorial start when the game is run for the first time...Its kinda fun though.

Ok, the issue with the tutorial button is solved. The latest version should appear in a couple of hours in Google Play.I just added an animation of a hand clicking of the tutorial button which starts playing 5 seconds after the main menu is launched. The Store button is now also grayed out so the player can only toggle the sound button and start the tutorial. It was important to let the player know what the "question mark button" is for. He can start the tutorial later on, for example to introduce the game easily to his friends. It was also a goal to design the tutorial button not as noticeable as the Play, Store and Ranking buttons because it's less important. I think the solution with the mentioned animation is appropriate to accomplish all this. It forces the user to push it and afterwards he hopefully remembers what the "question mark button" is good for.

Ok, the issue with the tutorial button is solved. The latest version should appear in a couple of hours in Google Play.I just added an animation of a hand clicking of the tutorial button which starts playing 5 seconds after the main menu is launched. The Store button is now also grayed out so the player can only toggle the sound button and start the tutorial. It was important to let the player know what the "question mark button" is for. He can start the tutorial later on, for example to introduce the game easily to his friends. It was also a goal to design the tutorial button not as noticeable as the Play, Store and Ranking buttons because it's less important. I think the solution with the mentioned animation is appropriate to accomplish all this. It forces the user to push it and afterwards he hopefully remembers what the "question mark button" is good for.

Can't get the latest version because Google's servers are burping at the moment. Good to hear though.I have two problems with the gameplay, that makes it extremely difficult to drive longer than two miles. Firstly the rarity of power supplies. If you miss a single one, you could die. If you get flashed, or get oil on the tires it's already gg. Second is the speed at which you change lanes. Currently, it feels really slow. If you're three lanes away, it very easy to miss something just because it takes half a century to get over there. That causes a lot of power missed, thus shorter gameplay. Because of the rarity of power, I find myself taking chances to get it, which results in bumping into cars. It's no big deal till I get to the gray trucks - from then on, I can't even grab half because I'll bump into them.

EDIT: Cars also dont move faster than you when you honk. It hinders no collisions

thank you very much for your reply and the informaiton you gave about the misteriuous question-mark-button!Please don't try to update to the newest version. You will see no difference because you already completed the tutorial.

Two miles isn't bad at all!What is a good distance to cover in one round?If its too short, the user may get frustrated that he covers just a very short distance. If its too long, the user may become bored as his skills improve and he has to cover a long distance before it becomes challanging for him.When I was designing the game the question of how long a game round should last appeared. I had no idea what the best value was so what I did was looking at other successful game titles. Some friends who never played Doodle Jump tried it on my device and I realized that during their first 10 rounds they stayed alive for about one minute. This is the value I tried to get close to.

There were already complains about the speed at which the car changes lanes. I increased the speed and the people who were complaining were satisfied. But then the complains came again, from people who didn't experienced the even slower version. I increased the speed again and this people were satisfied too. But then the complains came again, from people who … It seems like the lane changes can't be fast enough. Of course it's easy to miss something that is 3 lanes away but this is the nature of the game. It's not just about skills but also a little luck.

May I ask how exactly you control the car? I play with the device in my palm and control the car only with my thumb with short swipes. I've got the suspicion, that users are playing with two hands and control the vehicle with the index finger. Maybe they don't swipe 3x in a quick sequence to change 3 lanes at once but change lane after lane. Another issue could be that they don't do it with short swipes but swipe all over the screen, which takes more time.Just a suspicion I have to keep an eye on.

That's true, cars do really not move faster than you do if you honk. The reason is, that the horn signal serves another purpose. It just gives you the ability to get through if all lanes are occupied with cars in a single line. To avoid collisions there is the ability to brake though.

Do I get it right? You drive behind the gray trucks all the time? If so, just pass them.

thank you very much for your reply and the informaiton you gave about the misteriuous question-mark-button!Please don't try to update to the newest version. You will see no difference because you already completed the tutorial.

Two miles isn't bad at all!What is a good distance to cover in one round?If its too short, the user may get frustrated that he covers just a very short distance. If its too long, the user may become bored as his skills improve and he has to cover a long distance before it becomes challanging for him.When I was designing the game the question of how long a game round should last appeared. I had no idea what the best value was so what I did was looking at other successful game titles. Some friends who never played Doodle Jump tried it on my device and I realized that during their first 10 rounds they stayed alive for about one minute. This is the value I tried to get close to.

There were already complains about the speed at which the car changes lanes. I increased the speed and the people who were complaining were satisfied. But then the complains came again, from people who didn't experienced the even slower version. I increased the speed again and this people were satisfied too. But then the complains came again, from people who … It seems like the lane changes can't be fast enough. Of course it's easy to miss something that is 3 lanes away but this is the nature of the game. It's not just about skills but also a little luck.

May I ask how exactly you control the car? I play with the device in my palm and control the car only with my thumb with short swipes. I've got the suspicion, that users are playing with two hands and control the vehicle with the index finger. Maybe they don't swipe 3x in a quick sequence to change 3 lanes at once but change lane after lane. Another issue could be that they don't do it with short swipes but swipe all over the screen, which takes more time.Just a suspicion I have to keep an eye on.

That's true, cars do really not move faster than you do if you honk. The reason is, that the horn signal serves another purpose. It just gives you the ability to get through if all lanes are occupied with cars in a single line. To avoid collisions there is the ability to brake though.

Do I get it right? You drive behind the gray trucks all the time? If so, just pass them.

That's a long post! I'll address each paragraph, in chronological order.

My problem is not necessarily with how long I stay in each game, as long as that is based on skill rather than luck. The distance covered doesn't matter, as long as one can increase it by getting better at the game. This does not seem to be the case though. The formation of the other cars is something the player has no control over, but it makes me miss a lot of those power-supply-things. If and when I miss just a single one, there is a great chance that I will run out before reaching the next. It has occurred to me that it's difficult to stay alive, if you miss just one power-up. Then when you miss one (and it's because the car can't change lanes fast enough, or you're trying to pass a car), it's really frustrating.I found that I can't stay in the game longer, just because I play more. Rather, I can sometimes stay longer if the batteries spawn in a place I can reach.

I play on a 10-inch tablet, holding it like I would a book. I'm using my thumb to swipe, and I do know that 3x-fast-swipe will make the car change lanes at once. It's solely the speed at which the car flows over the screen, that makes it difficult to grab anything, if you didn't reach right when it spawned.

I will admit that I don't brake very often. Are you assuming that people will brake when changing lanes, or did you go normal speed when you designed it?

With the grey trucks it get's even sillier, because in that zone you're trying to pass them all the time. Thus, it's impossible to get power-ups if they don't spawn in your lane.

Let me summarize the first block.You mainly say that you've got the feeling that the success depends more on luck than on the players skills and it's too difficult because of the rare battery items on the street.

The balance between skill and luck was also my big concern as I played the prototype of the game the first time. Until now nobody else was addressing any complains in this direction. Which astonished me My own opinion is that there is indeed a lot of luck or randomness involved. But, you can compensate the randomness with your skills. With skills I don't mean just the ability to react on time but to develop a game strategy which serves best to reach better results. For example I avoid to use the outer lanes whenever possible so I have short distances to the outer left as well as to the outer right lane. I don't use the boost items right after I collect them but keep them for situations in which I wouldn't be able to grab an item without using the extra boost or the load is running out. If I run into a situation where I can be blocked to get the next item, I slow down to avoid this situation and see what the next item will be. And so on …However, the batteries are spread on the street in a half determined half random way. Across the first couple of miles there are more batteries than in the ongoing road sections so you can miss some but still proceed. The further you come, the less batteries you will find and the less your chances are to proceed. This is how the difficulty level is increased. The key is to develop a driving behavior which preserves you from missing the useful street items.

What I also discovered is that concentration also affects the result dramatically. I always achieve better results on my first tries. If I play the 5th 6th … game in a row I can't beat my 1st 2nd or 3rd outcome.

Yes I'm assuming that the people use the brakes while changing lanes.

I hate to disagree, but its possible to grab items while you are fighting your way through the gray vehicle convoy, even if they appear not on your lane. You have to apply the brakes and maybe even the boost to accomplish this. To do that is not that easy though, that's why the first convoys are extremely short.

Let me summarize the first block.You mainly say that you've got the feeling that the success depends more on luck than on the players skills and it's too difficult because of the rare battery items on the street.

The balance between skill and luck was also my big concern as I played the prototype of the game the first time. Until now nobody else was addressing any complains in this direction. Which astonished me My own opinion is that there is indeed a lot of luck or randomness involved. But, you can compensate the randomness with your skills. With skills I don't mean just the ability to react on time but to develop a game strategy which serves best to reach better results. For example I avoid to use the outer lanes whenever possible so I have short distances to the outer left as well as to the outer right lane. I don't use the boost items right after I collect them but keep them for situations in which I wouldn't be able to grab an item without using the extra boost or the load is running out. If I run into a situation where I can be blocked to get the next item, I slow down to avoid this situation and see what the next item will be. And so on …However, the batteries are spread on the street in a half determined half random way. Across the first couple of miles there are more batteries than in the ongoing road sections so you can miss some but still proceed. The further you come, the less batteries you will find and the less your chances are to proceed. This is how the difficulty level is increased. The key is to develop a driving behavior which preserves you from missing the useful street items.

What I also discovered is that concentration also affects the result dramatically. I always achieve better results on my first tries. If I play the 5th 6th … game in a row I can't beat my 1st 2nd or 3rd outcome.

Yes I'm assuming that the people use the brakes while changing lanes.

I hate to disagree, but its possible to grab items while you are fighting your way through the gray vehicle convoy, even if they appear not on your lane. You have to apply the brakes and maybe even the boost to accomplish this. To do that is not that easy though, that's why the first convoys are extremely short.

Thanks again for your reply!

Since I have recently upgraded the battary-amount I get per pickup, I now have a slight alteration in opinion. I was of the assumption that it would stay more or less the same. I have experiences that this is not the case. Now, I can reach up to 4 miles before dying. This seems like a good scale. Now, there is just 255 coins till the next level

My frustration came out of constantly running too low on battery, on stage one. Do you play with no upgrades? It's really difficult to make the battery last.

I'm glad the game doesn't frustrate you any more! Maybe it's even a little fun now? Sure, I upgrade as soon as I collect enough coins.Enjoy the fact that there is still something to upgrade, if all upgrades are activated you will miss it.

Can I ask you if you realized that there is more in the Upgrade-Menu than just the upgrades itself. You can change the categories by swiping the Upgrades-Category to the left. I'm asking because there was a complain about the visibility of the other categories.

There is a new version available now. I fixed some bugs and added a new very cool feature. I extended the global leaderboard. Now you can also see a country-ranking-list, a state-ranking-list and a town-ranking-list.What is needed now are active players to fill this lists

java-gaming.org is not responsible for the content posted by its members, including references to external websites,
and other references that may or may not have a relation with our primarily
gaming and game production oriented community.
inquiries and complaints can be sent via email to the info‑account of the
company managing the website of java‑gaming.org